Pregnant woman commits suicide after being denied a cesarean section

A Chinese woman who was 41 weeks pregnant committed suicide after her family refused to let her have a cesarean section birth, according to the South China Morning Post.

The 26-year-old woman, identified only by the surname Ma, was admitted to the maternity ward of Yulin No. 1 Hospital in Shaanxi Province, Northern China, last Wednesday.

According to China Business News, doctors who examined Ma told her that her unborn child had an unusually large head.

Since this can make vaginal delivery riskier than normal, her physicians recommended she have a C-section birth instead.

However, the young woman's family insisted she give birth naturally -- and because in China a patient's family members must give consent before they undergo surgery, she was not allowed by the hospital to have the procedure.

Ma continued to beg her family members to let her have a C-section, saying that the pain was becoming too much for her to bear, but they would not listen to her.

On 8 p.m. Thursday night, Ma fell from a fifth-floor window at the hospital, killing herself and her fetus in what police are calling a suicide.